


Take it all away

by IcyStarlight



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Kidnapping, POV Alternating, Violence, set between parts two and three, spoilers for up to part three
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-06 08:49:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 13,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14053314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcyStarlight/pseuds/IcyStarlight
Summary: It's absurd how fast it can all fall apart. How just one person can take your whole world away piece by piece. And as each piece is taken away, the whole tower comes tumbling down.





	1. The First Incident: Tenn

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as impulse and then I actually wrote it and I will finish it if it kills me so I can move on to other ideas bc I may be new in idol hell here but I'm already in too deep and in way over my head, plz come join me :)
> 
> Also the whole fic is already written for the most part and will have twelve chapter, i just have to finish the last chapter. The pov will alternate each chapter and i'll be sure to say who's pov it is in the chapter title so don't worry. Its not a very long story but i hope u like it anyways :)

It’s unexpected, the call from Kujou. The man who’s determined to make him the next legendary idol and always tells him that work comes before anything else. So when his phone goes off during practice he does not expect it. Dance practice stops immediately at the sound, the sudden interruption taking the group by surprise. He opens his mouth to tell Ryu to at least put his phone on vibrate or yell at Gaku if its not Ryu, when it hits him that it’s his phone ringing. 

“Well are you going to answer it or just stare at it? Clearly if you’re getting a call in practice it must be life or death.” Gaku gestured to the ringing phone across the room and motions for him to go deal with it.

Rolling his eyes, he doesn’t bother to. Anyone who was trying to contact him seriously could wait. The phone stopped ringing and he was about to tell Gaku and Ryu to get back to work when it started ringing again. He fought the urge to glare at it as it continued to ring.

“Go answer your phone brat,” Gaku threw a water bottle at his head which he caught unimpressed. Gaku rolled his eyes and waved him off, “We’ll resume practice once you sort out your popularity problem.”

He should’ve known it would not be good news when the phone rang a second time after he didn’t pick up the first time. Seeing Kujou on the caller-id was his second clue that something was not right. Ignoring the sinking feeling in his gut, he picked up the phone and stepped into the hallway before answering, “Hello?”

_“Tenn, have you seen Aya today?”_ Kujou sounded worried. That was his third clue something was wrong.

“We had breakfast together before I left this morning.”

_“Have you seen her since?”_

“No, why? What’s going on?”

_“She’s not answering her phone. It’s been six hours. Normally I wouldn’t worry, but the other day she mentioned it felt like she was being followed.”_

“Have you called the police?”

_“Yes, they’ve started tracking her phone. I was just checking to see if you had seen her today.”_

“Aside from this morning no. Have you checked with Idolish7?”

“I don’t think it would hurt to cover all the possibilities.”

_“Well if you’re so adamant about it then you can go check for me.”_ Kujou pulls away from the phone and talks to someone in the background. He can’t make out the words but it’s probably the police. _“I have to go, I’ll call you again if they find anything.”_

He fights the urge to glare at his phone when Kujou hangs up on him. He’s just as worried about Aya. He glares at the phone anyways when he realizes he’ll actually have to go check in with Idolish7 later.

Its two more hours before he makes his way over to Takanashi productions. Gaku and Ryu had been easy to dismiss and practice finished with no other interruptions or news. Banri informs him that he hasn’t seen Aya around but maybe one of the boys has. So he follows Banri to where Idolish7 is currently practicing. He doesn’t know why he’s still here, if Aya was with Idolish7 he would’ve known by now. But he refuses to believe the other alternative where something has happened to her. 

“Pardon the intrusion everyone.”

“Ah Banri-san what, and Tenn-nii?” Riku stood in the center of the room with Sogo and Tamaki. The other members of Idolish7 were scattered in small groups around the room, but he was really only interested in Tamaki. 

“Have you seen Aya today?” 

Tamaki growled at him, “You have a lot of nerve coming in here and asking if I’ve seen-”

His phone rang. He went to shut off the ringer when he saw it was Kujou. “Pardon my rudeness,” he answered the phone and held it up to his ear, “Hello Kujou-san. Any news?”

_“Hello Tenn, and yes though I’m afraid it’s bad news.”_

“What do you mean?” he steps out of the room, Idolish7 being too preoccupied by his sudden appearance and question to really make an effort to stop him.

_“They found Aya’s things and phone left on a street about five blocks from home with no signs of her. She’s been declared missing and it’s been classified as a kidnapping case. Ah the police need some information, I’ll contact you if anything else comes up.”_

Kujou hung up on him. Blankly he stared at his phone as he pulled it away from his ear. Aya, Aya had been kidnapped.

“Kujou-san what exactly did you need from us?” It’s the younger Izumi who steps into the hallway behind him. 

He took a deep breath. Kujou had said it wasn’t Tamaki’s problem anymore. But if Aya really had been kidnapped… It couldn’t be helped. “Originally I was going to simply ask if you had seen Aya as she’s been out of contact since earlier, but now I’ve received news that she’s been declared missing and they’re calling it a kidnapping case.” 

“Aya-chan? Wait, what are you-”

“You should let him know, Tamaki-kun, and I must be going. The police will probably have questions for me as someone who saw her this morning. Pardon the intrusion.” He walks away from the practice room leaving silence in his wake. It’s not his place to stay nor does he want to stay. But at least her brother knows.


	2. The Second Incident: Tsumugi

Tsumugi hung up the phone and sighed. It had been a week since Kujou Tenn had apparently intruded on her group’s practice and then told them that Aya was missing before leaving again. Tamaki had thrown himself into his work hoping once again that if she saw him on tv, she would be able to find him. Now, Tamaki was sick from overworking himself and would be staying home from school for the time being. There was still no news on Aya’s whereabouts. No news at all on the whole kidnapping had even come up. It was heartbreaking, all of her group members had been affected by the news. But of course the situation had taken the greatest toll on Tamaki. Seeing Tamaki so hurt had affected all of them. 

What she doesn’t expect though is Riku bursting into the office panting profusely. He holds up a hand to stop her from talking before speaking in between gasping for breath, “Have you heard from Iori today?” 

“Um no, not yet. Are you worried? I can call the school if you like.” At her gentle suggestion Riku nodded eagerly. She was worried about it as well now that Riku had barged in, clearly on the verge of an attack. What she doesn’t expect is the answer the school gives her. That Izumi Iori-kun never showed up to school that day. She barely manages to end the call with the school before dialing the police. 

It’s too late though, by the time they find his things a few blocks from school in some bushes, Iori is already long gone. There’s a message draft on his phone to Riku, it details seeing a middle aged man with a girl who looks exactly like Aya. The license plate number is only half typed out before the message is left unfinished. The police declare Iori a victim of the kidnapping case as well and record the plate number to run against their system. If anything else come out of what the police find, she doesn’t know it. She’s too worried about the remainder of her group to really process anything else.

Mitsuki is inconsolable. He manages to hold it together until after he unlocks Iori’s phone. When there’s no other immediate clues they’re forced to face the truth that Iori has been kidnapped. As a manager, part of her mind worries about the group as a whole. But as their friend, it’s hard to cheer everyone else up and put on a brave face when she’s crying herself. 

It takes the combined effort of both Banri and her dad to get her and the group back to the dorm. They sat around on the couches as her dad and Banri continued to talk elsewhere to the police about the situation. Mitsuki has long since cried himself to the point of exhaustion and was currently slumped against Nagi who had been trying to offer any sort of comfort he could. On Nagi’s otherside was Riku who was also asleep after having an awful attack. It had taken both Yamato and Sogo combined to calm him down. Now that Iori was no longer there to do it.

Next to her Yamato sat silent, clutching a long since empty tea mug and starting at the ground. On the opposite couch, Sogo sat silently in a similar position to Yamato. Tamaki was still out of it for the most part, but lay on the couch simply staring at the assorted mugs on the table. Specifically the extra mug of tea that had not been touched. The extra mug of tea that was in Iori's mug they had gotten out of habit.

She’s run out of tears to cry for the time being, too exhausted to continue. Now just wallowing in silence with the remaining members of her group. She wonders if there’s anything she can do to help. Anything at all, it doesn’t have to be much but she can’t stand this. She needs her whole group here, she needs Iori back safe and unharmed, and she needs this whole ordeal to be a bad dream she’ll wake up from at any second now. Any second at all.


	3. The Dark: Iori

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope none of this is too ooc or anything

Waking up is like forcing himself to remember to breathe. It’s painful, confusing, and alarming. His throat feels raw, so much so that it hurts to swallow. It’s cold, there’s little light, and he doesn’t know where he is. The pounding of his head is so bad he can’t sort out exactly what happened before he woke up here. Tamaki had gotten sick, so he had gone to school alone. On the way he stopped because he saw a girl that looked a lot like Aya. Then there was someone grabbing him from behind and a sweet smell before the world went dark. 

The reality of the situation he was currently in hit him hard. The ground beneath him seemed even colder. It took all his concentration to try and calm himself down. Clutching the blanket draped over him like a lifeline, he forces himself back into the present. Plan, he needed a plan, and to have a plan he needed to assess the situation he was currently in and observe his surroundings. There was something warm next to him. Looking to his right, he notices that there’s someone else under the large blanket. He recognizes her almost instantly, it’s Aya. She really had been kidnapped. That meant he had also been kidnapped.

Okay so that’s his current situation, think what happened that led him to be in this position? He had been walking to school. Leaving earlier than normal because Tamaki wasn’t with him. Then he had seen a girl who looked like Aya, it probably had actually been her, and then he remembers pulling out his phone to text someone. He was going to text Riku, because Riku was always near his phone, about Aya and the van who’s license plate was visible to him without getting to close in case he was wrong or someone noticed him. Then someone had grabbed him, covered his mouth and nose with a rag, and then world went dark after he inhaled something sweet. Okay, so he had been drugged, that was another thing he knew. 

He feels like he’s going to puke when he hears footsteps. Aya is asleep next to him so that means whoever took them is coming. He isn’t prepared for that, he can’t face the man who kidnapped him like it was nothing. Looking at Aya, he figures his best course of action is to pretend to be asleep. Lying back down, he closes his eyes and forces all his attention into breathing slowly and calmly. Aya is asleep besides him when a door opens nearby but doesn’t seem to wake as the footsteps get closer and closer. She stirs when there’s a loud clatter, he can feel it from their proximity under the blanket. The sound of something hitting floor nearly makes him flinch but instead his attention is drawn elsewhere. Aya is not asleep despite how she looks. Under the blanket she grips his hand tight. A squeeze he feels himself returning.

The footsteps get closer. Rough breathing and the smell of smoke nearly overtake the musty smell of the basement room he made out before. Closer than he wants it to be, a deep voice speaks in a near whisper, “Thank goodness they don’t need to be drugged again. I feel so bad drugging them.”

Every part of him screams at him to get as far away as possible from this man. When he feels the ghost of something almost touch his head, it takes Aya clutching his hand full force not to flinch, but he can’t do anything to stop himself from whimpering in fear. The almost touch retreats as the man seems to coo at them. It takes all the self control he can muster to still pretend to be asleep. It takes it all to make himself not react in any other way. It’s probably the hardest thing he’s ever done. 

But the presence backs off. Right after the door shuts and he can make out the sound of stairs creaking over the beating of his heart in his ears. When another door shuts and silence returns he blinks opens his eyes, fighting against the tears that threaten to spill after the encounter. Next to him he sees Aya open her eyes as well. It takes him a second to realize that they’re both shaking. Breaking the silence, she whispers to him, “He won’t be back until morning now. We’re okay now.” 

She squeezes his hand again and he thinks she’s the bravest person he knows. He watches a few tears escape her eyes, like the same ones that run down his face as he forcibly blinks them away. They stay there together under the blanket for a long time, until his heart stops trying to beat out of his chest. The whole time, Aya doesn’t let go of his hand. She’s endured so much, a week of being here, and still, still she tries to comfort him. 

They slowly pick at the small meal left for them, hunched together in the corner under their shared blanket. It’s not much, just two bottles of water and some bread, but it helps clear his head.They sit in silence while they eat. He doesn’t think much of it, using the silence to try and wrap his head around his current situation. It’s the darkness flooding into the room once the sun goes down that it dawns on him. That Aya is probably quiet because she feels guilty. She’s probably extremely grateful he’s here now, so she’s no longer alone, and he’s someone who knows of her at least. Not from the news but because he knows her brother, both biological and adopted. He can’t fault her in that, if he was in her shoes, he doesn’t think he could’ve survived this long. Tamak always appreciates people saying things outright, and this is his sister, so he should tell her outright what he thinks. His whispering breaks the silence, “It’s okay to be glad I’m here you know. I’d rather be here with you right now than you have to face this alone any longer. You’re extremely brave Aya.” 

He can feel her startle from where she’s lightly pressed up against him. She slowly leans back until her whole weight is against his right side. She’s light and probably hasn’t had any proper food in the week she’s been missing. Her body shakes as she whispers with shaky breaths, “I’m not brave, I, I’m so scared. I don’t know how long I’ve been here. I miss Kujou-san and Tenn-oniichan. I really, I really hated being alone though. It was terrifying but now you’re here and I’m happy about it. I shouldn’t be happy someone else was dragged into this with me, but I am.” 

He doesn’t say anything about the quiet sobs. He simply puts an arm around her and pulls her closer. She doesn’t say anything about the way he’s shaking and simply curls closer. They stay like that for a long time. He promises, to whoever is out there, he promises that he’s going to get them out of here.


	4. Lost: Riku

It’s been three days since Iori went missing. He hates being in the dorm now. One of his favorite places now feels like it’s haunted. No one really talks anymore. No one hangs around each other really. All the laughing and fun they normally have seems like a fever dream from a time long ago. It’s as if they’ll all shatter the second someone breathes too loudly. It makes everything ten times worse because it serves as a constant reminder Iori is missing. One of the seven pieces that completes their group and now they’re all about to collapse without its support. 

They’re all sitting around the breakfast table, well almost all of them. Tamaki is still asleep recovering from his sickness and Iori… he just doesn’t want to think about it anymore. Every second he spends here in this awful silence is just a constant reminder. They’ve still been having group meals, but its been Sogo cooking as Mitsuki… Good thing none of them have been eating much anyways. 

“Riku-kun you need to eat.” Sogo sat next to him, disapproving of him deciding to push food around his plate instead of actually eating it. 

“I’m not that hungry.” Which wasn’t a lie, he wasn’t hungry. 

“Riku-kun…” He felt bad about it, Sogo worked hard to make him this food and he really didn’t eat any of it, but he just wasn’t hungry. And he’d had enough of this horrible silence.

“I’m going back to my room.” Standing up he was walking around the table when someone grabbed his wrist. “Ah, Mitsuki?”

“What do you think you’re doing?” He was angry, why was Mitsuki angry at him?

“Eh?”

“You think it’s okay for you to do this? To stop taking care of yourself and just mope all day?” 

“What-”

“How do you think Iori would feel if he knew you were doing this? He does his best to always dote on you and make sure your health is perfect. Now just like that you’re throwing it all away? I get it! You’re upset! We’re all upset! That’s my brother! My little brother I’ve watched and cared for my whole life and now he was just taken from me like it was nothing!” 

“I-”

“So don’t you dare keep doing this. Stop acting like your whole world has ended. He’s my brother, he’s my baby brother!” Mitsuki stood up and looked him in the eye. He was crying, tears furiously racing down his face. He took a deep breath before continuing, “And right now if he could see you doing this, he’d hate you!” 

_He’d hate you._

He tore his wrist out of Mitsuki’s grasp and ran out the room. 

“Ah hello? It’s Re:vale! We’ve come to offer our, huh what’s-” Momo and Yuki walked in with Tsumugi. But he paid them no mind as he rushed past them out of the dorm. 

Away, he just had to get away from this place. He couldn’t do it anymore. It was too much. The suffocating silence left him struggling to breathe. He needed out, he needed out and far away. He needed this to all be a bad dream. He just needed Iori to come home already. 

“Riku! Wait!” He recognizes the voice calling after him, it’s Momo. He stops running and it’s not that he wants to stop, its more so he has to stop because he can’t run. So it takes all of a few seconds for Momo to catch up to where he’s currently tucked against the wall. Momo is panting less than he is when he does catch up, “Good you stopped, it’d be hard to keep track of you on the street.”

“Momo-san… … … … leave me alone… … …” 

“What? No way! I can’t leave you alone!” He’s not even looking at Momo, only looking at his feet from where he sits hunched over, but he can see Momo wave his hands around as he talks. 

He stares up at his senpai confusedly, “Why?”

“Well for one thing it’s the current situation, but mostly I’d be a pretty shitty senpai if I let you face this alone.” Momo smiles at him and he can feel all the tears he forced himself not to cry resurface. Momo panics and waves his hands even more, “Ah, it’ll be okay! Iori will be home soon and then we can play games together!” 

He can’t help it anymore. Without the overbearing silence, he finally breaks down and starts crying. Thankfully, Momo doesn’t do anything other than hug him. It just wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair Iori was kidnapped! It wasn’t fair Aya was kidnapped! Why would someone do this? It just wasn’t fair! 

It takes a while, for him to stop crying. He really only stops because its too hard to breathe when he cries for too long. He slowly peels away from Momo, wiping at his eyes in the process. His voice cracks when speaks, “Thank you Momo-san.”

“It’s no big deal, I promise! Sometimes the only way to let it all out is to cry. Now wait here, I’m going to get you some water!” Momo ruffles his hair before he jogs around the corner out of sight. He thinks about telling Momo it’s not necessary but his senpai is already gone. 

It’s a pretty quiet out today though, even if they’re tucked away on aside street, there’s no one around. He hopes he didn’t disturb anyone with his crying. He sits up from the wall and tries to see which way Momo went off. Looking down the street he can’t help but notice it’s not just no ones around, its strangely quiet, almost too quiet. 

Something grabs him from behind.

He starts panicking before he even realizes what happening. There’s something around his throat that’s making it hard to breathe and then there’s something over his mouth and nose that makes it impossible to breathe. He struggles, but there’s only so much he can do. Whoever grabbed him is incredibly strong. Is this what happened to Iori?

The last thing he knows is seeing Momo round the corner and watching his face go from its normal happy state to something fierce that he’d never seen before. In that moment, Momo looked really cool.


	5. A Risky Plan: Momo

One of his kohai had been kidnapped. He’s furious about it. There’s nothing he can do about the situation other than wait and hope the police find something soon and it’s killing him. Then Yuki tells him that the first person kidnapped had been Tenn’s adopted little sister and Tamaki’s biological little sister and that’s three strike. Three strikes too many in his eyes and if he ever meets the creep who’s done this they’ll have another thing coming. 

Yuki’s been texting Ban about the incident. He had checked in with Tsumugi a few times to see how she was doing but her cheerful and happy texts were replaced by short and sad ones. So he decided to help in the only way he knew he could, provide a distraction. He’d gotten the okay from their manager to go over and give their support to Idolish7. Yuki had checked with Ban to make sure it was okay, and now they were waiting for Tsumugi to come to the dorm with them. 

She was quiet. She only offered a small greeting before going back to being quiet. It unsettled him more than he’d like to admit as she was normally so upbeat and eager to hear and learn more. Now she was just silent and it was breaking his heart. Mentally he steeled himself for all of I7 to be like this. The cheerful banter and colorful group was probably just as different in the current situation. 

But he only saw Riku brush past them and run out the door as the entered. With a quick look to Yuki he didn’t hesitate to run out after the boy. One missing member was bad enough. If Riku got taken too, it would crush them all. Not to mention, he’d consider himself quite the failure of a senpai if he left Riku alone at a time like this. 

It didn’t surprise him when Riku broke down crying too. He couldn’t even imagine being in his shoes. If Yuki was missing, he didn’t even want to think about it. So he offered all the comfort he could to the crying boy. Simply being there for him and rubbing circles on his back. Eventually Riku’s sobs lessened to hiccups and he pulled away. His kohai’s breathing was pretty rough, but he doubted going from running to crying was good on your throat. So he told Riku to wait and he went to grab him a water.

In hindsight, it was stupid of him to leave Riku alone after just spending that time making sure not to leave the boy alone. But he’d only gone around half the block to get the water. He had even jogged there and back. Yet when he turned back onto the side street where Riku was and saw some man grabbing him from behind. He swore he saw red. 

Water bottle forgotten, he rushed forward at the man. He watches Riku go limp in the man’s hold, the cloth he had covering Riku’s mouth falls to the ground as the man pull out a knife and points it at the boy’s face. He hesitates and stops a few feet from the man. 

The man lets out a gruff laugh and barks at him, “That’s right punk, come any closer and little pretty here gets a permanent new feature.” 

He’s trapped. What can he do but simply stand there waiting for something to happen? What could he possibly do in this moment? The man throws his head back and laughs. His fingers move before he even knows what he’s doing. His phone is tucked in his pants pocket, but he doesn’t need to see the screen to know what he’s doing. He hits Yuki’s number on speed dial and lets it ring as the man stares him down again as if to see if he’s tried anything. In the dead silence he can hear the call go through and Yuki pick up. He’s been with Yuki for five years now so he knows for a fact Yuki won’t speak until he does. With no idea how he’s really going to do this, he throws his plan into action.

“Hey you creepy bastard, if you plan on taking my kohai you’ll have to take me too. I know your face and the plates on that van over there, the one I’m assuming is yours.” His voice doesn’t betray all the anxiety he currently feels. All those drama and film roles were finally paying off. 

The man pushes the knife harder into Riku’s face, he can see small lines of blood on the boy’s face. Riku doesn’t even seem to react to the small cut, only breathing harshly as he had been. The man points the knife at him and sneers, “Ever the hero for your kohai are you? Come quietly or his hair won’t be the only red thing on his head.”

He puts his hands up, just past his shoulders. Showing he doesn’t intend to try anything. The man motions with his knife for him to walk in front. He walks slowly, hoping the screen from his phone isn’t visible from his pocket. The man doesn’t seem to notice as he watches him out of the corner of his eye as the creep opens the back of the van. The bastard just throws Riku in, but thankfully struggles a bit which buys him enough time to quickly slip his phone from his pants to his jacket. It’s an old concert jacket, with a little sewn in compartment for microphone equipment that fits his phone perfectly. Now all he can do is hope the call stays connected. 

The man reaches into the van and pulls out Riku’s phone before throwing it into a bush next to the van. The bastard holds out his hand presumably for his own phone which he slowly reaches into his pants pocket to grab. The man laughs at his easy compliance before tossing his phone in the same bush as Riku’s. He has to fight the urge to laugh at the man because jokes on the bastard, he has two phones.

He’s too caught up trying not to look suspicious when the creep turns back around that there’s nothing he can do but allow the man to drug him with the rag that suddenly appears over his nose and mouth. The man grabs him by the neck and all he can do is slowly watch the world fade to black.


	6. A light: Iori

It’s been three days. The sun has set and risen again three times since he’s been thrown into this basement. The man comes once in the morning and once at night. In the morning they can get away with pretending to be asleep. The man will come in and set down their food before leaving again. It’s at night when its the worst. The man will come in reeking of alcohol, Aya has several bruises in the shape of a hand on her arms and wrists. He’s sporting a throbbing welt on his forehead, a badly twisted ankle, and a black eye. But they’re alive and otherwise untouched and unharmed. All the man has done otherwise is yell. Loud and cursing at them, he doesn’t understand what the man is saying, his accent from somewhere blends and covers whatever japanese he’s speaking. It’s a small victory, but it’s a victory. 

They’ve spent the time curled up in their corner. He’s been filling their time with stories. He never realized how many he’d collected from his time with Idolish7. A year of memories that have spread to cover hours of their time as he tries to remember all the small moments to tell again. It’s just been the two of them stuck here. But if he can share all his precious memories of the past year and make them feel just a little bit better he’ll tell them all. 

At first he was embarrassed by how much Aya was clinging to him, but then he quickly found himself doing the same. It was a constant reminder of something other than their current situation. A physical anchor to the moment. How had she survived a week without any physical contact? He felt all those moments with one of his other group members hanging off him, arms around each other's shoulders, quick high-fives, quick hugs, constant touches, and now just nothing. So that first full day of him being here when Aya had climbed onto his lap, he didn’t push her away. Anything to fight of the cold ache in his bones and dread hanging over their heads. 

It must’ve been the situation that made them as close as siblings. She’d taken to calling him ‘Iori-nii’, and they’d spent almost all their time curled up together in the damp basement corner under their blanket. His voice was raspy from talking so much but he didn’t stop. It was the only thing keeping him sane at this point, probably both of them honestly. 

The stories of I7 where Yamato once challenged Tamaki to eat as many king puddings as he could in an hour. They’d run out of puddings in forty minutes after all the ones in the dorm had been eaten. Sogo had sent Yamato to the store the next day to buy Tamaki more. Where Riku spent so much time filming his and Nagi’s antics where they initiated a prank war with his brother and gotten them all involved, much to Yamoto’s, Sogo’s, and his own complaints. Where Nagi makes them watch movies together as a group every friday night and how alcohol is banned from movie friday because Sogo almost broke the tv yelling at some romance movie.

This time, the story’s about the antics they got up to during the Zero Arena revival concert. How Riku couldn’t call Tenn anything other than Tenn-nii half the time and somehow no one’s caught on to the two being related yet. How Sogo screamed upon watching Trigger rehearse and then hid in the dressing room for an hour because he was embarrassed. How Nagi and his brother would constantly jump into Yamato and Gaku and never be dropped despite anything the other two might’ve been holding. How Riku managed to spend a solid five minutes mimicking Tenn without noticing the other was right behind him the whole time. 

They were discussing the shuffle units when they were interrupted by a loud crash and a cursing. Aya curls closer to his chest from where she sits on his lap and he tries to make them vanish into the corner. The door to the basement room slams open and there’s even louder yelling and cursing as someone falls through the doorway. Aya has tucked her face into his shirt, shaking like a leaf. He can only watch the new stranger fall awkwardly on their arm before slamming their head into the floor and going limp. The door slams shut as the man storms back up the stairs. A part of him says to go check on the stranger but the rest of his body is still shaking so he stays frozen in fear in their safe corner. 

The footsteps come back. This time the door doesn’t slam open, but opens normally. The man is carrying someone who seems to stir but the man lifts a rag to their face and drugs them. He fights the urge to stick his face into Aya’s hair and not look at the man but he has to watch. The man walks over and sets the person down on their left. He doesn’t get a good look at the person, too hyper-focused on the man. The man who proceeds to come over and try and reach out at him. He can’t help it this time, he screws his eyes shut and tucks his face into Aya’s hair hoping the man will just leave. 

The man’s yelling at them but he can’t understand what’s being said. All he does is pull Aya closer to him as they cower in fear. Outside, sirens sound somewhere in the distance. The man curses again, but it’s not directed at them. There’s the sound of footsteps and a door slamming. They sit curled together for a long time. Eventually his head snaps up at the sound of someone groaning. Eyes snapping towards the person at the bottom of the stairs he catches the familiar style of hair and he knows them, that’s Momo. He turns to face the one the man had carried in. There’s tears in his eyes already, but a few escape when he notices a familiar shade of red. 

“Riku…” his voice cracks and he’s quick to shift Aya to the side so he can see better. It’s Riku. Riku is here in this basement. He has several thin cuts on his face, what looks to be bruises forming on his neck, and his breathing is harsh. Gently setting Aya next to him, he crawls over to his friend, trying not to jostle the ankle he badly hurt at some point upon arriving here. He tries to shake Riku awake, but his center simply whimpers before his breathing gets harsher. There’s a thin sheen of sweat forming on his forehead and each breath sounds worse than the last. 

Next to him, he can feel Aya crawl over. She gasps at seeing Riku’s state, a quiet voice just as strained as his own speaks, “Nanase-san oh no…” 

“Stay with him, I’m going to check on Momo-san. Let me know if his breathing gets any worse.” His voice shakes, but there’s conviction behind it. Aya offers him a small nod before he sets off over to Momo. 

His senpai is still unconscious, a large welt forming on his forehead to rival his own as well as a large gash that’s just now starting to scab over. Momo’s wrist is clearly broken as well. But what catches his attention the most is the small light emitting from Momo’s chest. Gently shifting his senpai, he pulls out a phone. There’s a call active, to Yuki. It’s been going for about an hour now.

Shaking, he slowly lifts the phone to his ear and hopes that somehow this isn’t a dream. He doesn’t try to fight the tears or cracking of his voice as he speaks, “... he, hel, hello?” 

Someone on the other end of the line speaks. A voice speaks and it takes him a second to connect it to a face, it’s Yuki who answers him gently, “Iori-kun, is that you?”

This time he doesn’t stop the tears from falling.


	7. Call of Hope: Tsumugi

She’s exhausted. She hasn’t really slept the past three nights, she’s cried at least twice already today, and there’s not much more of this she can take. She’d been texting Momo about it, once he messaged her offering his support. Re:vale was still free to do what they pleased for the most part, unlike Trigger who had been forbidden to really leave their agency alone. Gaku had complained about his dad just being extremely paranoid and said that he and the rest of Trigger sent their support. 

So when Banri tells her that Re:vale’s come to visit and hopefully offer a well needed distraction it doesn’t really surprise her. They’re waiting downstairs for her and then they’ll all head over to the dorms together. She knows Banri won’t be coming with them as he’s got so much to handle. Her dad had forbade her from helping them with anything about the situation. She feels bad because she’s Idolish7’s manager, but at the same time she’s grateful because it’s hard to work knowing Iori is still out there somewhere. 

Momo and Yuki are a welcome change when they greet her as she gets ready to leave with them. She only offers them a small greeting though, her hearts not really in it and she knows they exchange a look about it. But she really can’t manage much more than that at this point. Especially after over hearing her dad’s talk with the police earlier. They haven’t found any solid leads yet. That news still has her shell shocked. How? How could someone just crush their whole world? It just doesn’t make sense.

But her idols are her life and there’s still six of them to take care of. 

Yet, she’s not prepared to see the rest of them fall apart in front of her. 

Upon entering the dorm she hears the tail end of yelling before Riku brushes right past them and runs out the door. She’s vaguely aware of Momo going after him, but she’s already entered the dorm to find out what exactly is going on and why Riku ran out. Stepping into room she faces what remains of her group. 

It’s like time has frozen, or at least they all have. Mitsuki’s in front of her, behind him is Nagi and then Yamato. Over on the couch is Tamaki who looks like he just woke up and Sogo standing next to the couch looking worriedly at the group in front of her.

Mitsuki is standing closest to her, his face is red, there’s tears streaming down his cheeks, and his breathing is rough. It doesn’t take her long to piece together that the yelling had come from him. She doesn’t understand what Mitsuki and Riku could’ve been fighting about though, they were such good friends. Mitsuki’s expression softens from anger to regret after he realizes she’s walked in the room. 

Nagi stands behind him, arm outstretched like he had tried to stop either Mitsuki or Riku she can’t really tell. With Mitsuki she can’t see how tired he looks through the red and crying face, but on Nagi’s pale complexion she can clearly make out the very dark circles under his eyes. Behind Nagi is Yamato with what looks to be a tray of tea. The tray is shaking slightly from where she can see his hands shaking too. Normally she can always get the general mood of the group from Yamato and his expressiveness but now she can’t read anything in his blank stare. 

Tamaki still looks completely out of it from where he lays on the couch. His face is also red, so that must been his fever hasn’t broken yet. Next to him Sogo stands with a hand balanced on the couch and she can’t remember the last time she saw him look that frazzled. 

Behind her she can feel someone come to stand next to her. In the back of her mind she realizes it probably Yuki. That she should apologize to him because he and Momo came to offer their support but instead they’re being forced to deal with her mess and it’s not fair. All the worries in her head stop though as a gentle hand comes to rest on her shoulder. It hits her suddenly, that its not her mess really, she’s a part of the mess because she’s apart of the group who doesn’t know how to deal with one of its members not being there.

Time seems to pass in a blur. She isn’t aware of how much time has passed but she’s ushered to one of the open couches and a cup of tea is placed in her hands. She’s stuck in a dazed state as Nagi calms a still crying Mitsuki yet again and Sogo helps Tamaki eat something before letting him go back to sleep. She’s vaguely aware that Yuki and Yamato are having a conversation next to her but she really isn’t paying attention to it. It’s only when Sogo sits down next to her that she manages to refocus on reality. By that point Mitsuki has fallen asleep on Nagi’s lap and her tea cup is empty though she doesn’t remember drinking it. 

She gently places the cup on the table in front of her and tries to regain the composure she still has left. Thankfully her cup was already on the table when Yuki’s phone rings because she nearly falls off the couch when it startles her. He answers it, rising from the couch to step out of the room when he suddenly stops. She can’t see his face, but she watches his posture shift from calm and relaxed to completely stiff. He turns back around and set the phone on the table. The call is from Momo and its been set on speaker phone. She doesn’t have time to think about what’s happening when a voice from the otherside of the call makes her blood run cold, _“Ever the hero for your kohai are you? Come quietly or his hair won’t be the only red thing on his head.”_

She can’t help her surprise and gasps, there’s little sound to it as both Sogo and Yuki quickly place their hands over her mouth to keep her quiet. Nagi is silenced by Yamato and they share looks over the other’s hands. Nobody moves as there’s shuffling and several thuds on the other end of the phone. Tamaki stirs on the couch but it’s quiet compared to the sudden sound of Riku’s ragged breathing from over the phone. There’s already tears in her eyes as the sound of a car covers the room. She thinks she hears someone else speak, but the sound of the car is too loud over it. 

The rest of the room moves before she does. Yamato has his phone out with a stopwatch running on it. He’s whispering something to Nagi who gently picks up Mitsuki. Sogo has pulled his hand away and taken out his own phone. Yamato comes over and leans in to whisper, “Nagi is going to move Mitsu. Sou and I are going to call the police and the president. I need you to stay here with Yuki. Make sure Tama doesn’t wake up and listen for any clues on where Riku and Momo are being taken. Also watch my phone and make sure it doesn’t lock as the stopwatch keeps going. Riku probably didn’t run far from here so it’s our first guess as to how far they’re being taken.” 

It’s a lot to handle at once. But one look at his face and it’s very clearly what needs to be done. She hasn’t seen him look this determined in a long time, so set in stone on what he’s going to do and how he’s going to accomplish it. Sogo opens the door for Nagi on the other side of the room. She can see the determination and anger in Sogo’s face. Nagi’s shoulders are shaking as he carries Mitsuki out the room but she knows it’s not because of Mitsuki. Next to her, Yuki sits paler than usual. His hands are shaking but he makes no signs of moving from his spot. So she nods to Yamato who follows out of the room with Sogo.

Then it’s just the two of them. Well Tamaki is there, but he’s fast asleep unaware of the current situation. The sound of the car from the other end of the phone is the only thing she can hear. It’s scary and again this situation is all too real. But the rest of her group is trying their best to get their missing members back. And Momo didn’t hesitate to risk his life to stay with Riku and didn’t falter when he called Yuki even if being caught would possibly get him killed. 

It dawns on her she’s shaking like a leaf. But the furthest she moves from her spot is to reach out and grab Yuki’s hand so maybe they’ll both stop shaking.


	8. The Last Straw: Tenn

He’s probably going to go crazy. It had been bad enough when Aya was kidnapped. There was nothing he could do to help and he knew that but every day that passed was another day she was stuck who knows where all alone with who knows what. It had been easy to drown himself in late practices and throw his all into Trigger to get his mind off of it. But then the kidnapper had come and taken the younger Izumi as well. That had led to all of Trigger being forced to stick together on lock down at all times. He loved Ryu and Gaku. They were his friends. But if he got one more pity look or had to spend another five seconds with them and no space to think he was going to lose it. 

So he’d done the thing where he practices until he passes out, what about it? He’d done it before and he’ll probably do it again. There’s been no word from the police and Kujou hasn’t contacted him either so it seems there’s nothing being done. Why were the police suddenly so incompetent? 

What he doesn’t expect though is when his phone rings in practice once again. For crying out loud what could it be now? This time though when he doesn’t make a move to answer the phone Gaku does. Just waltzed on over and answered the phone like it was his own. How insufferable. 

He doesn’t try and listen in on the conversation as Gaku wanders back over to where he and Ryu are currently on the floor stretching. He pulls the phone away from his face, it’s pale and he looks shaken. For some reason he had been naive enough to hope for good news. Gaku sighs as he puts the phone between the three of them and hits speaker, “You’re on speaker now Nikaido.”

That surprises him more than he is willing to admit. Especially when Yamato Nikaido actually talks through the speaker, “There’s been another kidnapping.”

Ryu curses, his accent bleeding over his words. 

On the other side of the phone Yamato continues explaining, “Long story short, Re:vale came over, some things happened, and Momo was taken this time. But somehow he managed to call Yuki before it went down and we’re currently tracking his phone.” 

Part of him isn’t even surprised that somehow Re:vale and Idolish7 were managing to track down the kidnapper before the police even did anything. But in the back of his mind he knew there was another reason for this call. It wasn’t something he didn’t want to acknowledge because then it would have to be true, but he didn’t accomplish anything by waiting for other people to act first. 

“It wasn’t just Momo that was taken.” Ryu and Gaku just stare at him like he’s grown a second head, it’s not like he should know that someone else was also taken. It doesn’t make sense that he would know, but he does anyways. And from the sputtering on the other end of the line he wasn’t wrong. 

He’s on his feet moving before he really processes what he’s doing. He already knows who it is. He already knows it well enough that he’s out the building before he really processes it. The bastard had taken Aya and the fact that he couldn’t do anything about it pissed him off. Now he’d taken Riku too. 

He didn’t really have a right to be as upset as he was. When had he ever cared about family before? But this whole incident had left him on edge and restless. Now the bastard had both his siblings and the only people who where even trying to do anything were his fellow idols. 

Ryu is somewhere behind him. He can vaguely hear his name being called but he doesn’t stop. It’s only when someone grabs his wrist that he looks back. Ryu is the one currently holding onto his wrist, Gaku only three steps behind him. 

“You can’t stop me from going.” He wretches his wrist from Ryu’s grasp. But it’s instantly caught again. He turns around and sends a harsh glare at whoever has his wrist.

It’s Gaku this time who rolls his eyes at him, “Who said anything about stopping you brat?”

He fights the urge to yell, settling for barely masking his anger through clenched teeth, “Then what are you doing?”

Ryu, ever the buffer between them, steps in up. A pair of keys jingle as he holds them up, “Well it’d be faster to take the car.” 

He really can only stare in disbelief as they both drag him along with them. Honestly, he didn’t understand them.


	9. No Doubt: Momo

At first he thinks he’s hungover. The world’s blurry, his head is throbbing, and there’s a weird taste in his mouth. It only takes a second to figure out that he wishes it was a hangover. But the ground is cold and hard beneath him. He also can’t feel his left arm so that’s slightly terrifying, but not as terrifying as remembering his current situation. There’s people whispering nearby, or maybe that’s just his head spinning. 

“Momo-san please take it easy, you’re really hurt.” a careful whisper comes through the pounding in his head. He manages to open his eyes finally and finds a young girl crouched in front of him. It takes him longer than he’d like to piece together who she is. This has to be Tenn’s adoptive sister, Aya. Looking past her, he can make out Iori in the small amount of light. Good, Iori had his phone, that meant help was no doubt on the way. Next to Iori is Riku who’s leaning up against the wall. Neither of them look well from what he can make out through his blurry vision, but even with the loud pounding of his head he can still hear Riku breathing harshly. He doesn’t need to be a doctor to know that it’s probably not good.

Shifting, he has to bite back a scream. His lip bleeds from where he bites it as a searing pain shoots through his arm. Aya is pushing him back down her whisper as gentle as her hands, “Momo-san don’t move! Iori-nii says your arm is broken.” 

Well that explained a lot. He looks past her again, his voice is raspy when he speaks, “Riku…” 

“Iori-nii says he has a breathing problem, this air isn’t good for him to breathe as well, and he’s been drugged heavily. Iori-nii says he’ll pull through but I’m worried.” He looks back to the girl who’s been missing for about a week and a half now. She must be scared beyond belief but here she is worrying about someone she doesn’t know. He notices there's bruises on her arms, dark bruises in the shape of hands. 

“You’re hurt…” 

She looks at him confused for a minute before looking down at her arms, “Oh, they don’t hurt much unless you touch them a lot. Iori-nii’s been protecting me.” 

These kids… 

Somewhere above them there’s a door slamming. Iori slides the phone under the rug next to him. Aya gets up and runs over next to Iori as he pulls a large blanket off the ground next to him before tucking it around them both. It’s a practiced routine. There’s no fumbling, no awkwardness, they’ve done this exact scenario before. That fact makes him feel sick to his stomach.

Over the top of the blanket, Iori meets his eyes for a split second. He never wants to see Iori look that terrified ever again. The kids close their eyes as another door slams and loud footsteps come pounding down the same stairs he was pushed down earlier. There’s nothing he can do like this, so he follows the kids’ example, takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes. 

The basement door slams open into the wall behind him. “Get the hell up you brats!” 

It takes all his acting skills to not flinch. From the whimpers he hears, he knows the same cannot be said for the kids. He doesn’t hear Riku, that bothers him more than he wants to admit because that would have woken the dead. The man steps over him, he can feel the weight pass over him as the bastard walks towards the kids. 

Yeah no, his own safety be damned, but he isn’t allowing this to happen anymore. Reaching out, he grabs the man with his still working arm. He growls at the man above him, “Stay, the fuck, away from them.” 

The man stops in his tracks. The bastard pulls his ankle free before turning around and leering over down at him, “And how do you plan on stopping me?” 

His life as well as the kids lives are at risk here. It’s a stupid move, but for some reason he knows it’ll work out. After all, he was the cool senpai. So he turns his head up to look the ugly bastard in the eyes and gives the biggest shit eating grin he can currently manage with his split lip, “I don’t have to stop you. They will.”

Upstairs there’s a loud slam and several sets of footsteps as a voice rings out through the place, “This is the police. Don’t resist and come quietly, we have the place surrounded.”


	10. Found: Tsumugi

The past three hours have been a blur. Between Re:vale coming over, the whole phone call, and now waiting for the police to apprehend the kidnapper. They tracked Momo’s phone call to a small house, tucked away and hidden off the road, about an hour from the city. There’s a whole argument built about why they should get to come along to retrieve their missing members but instead her dad and Banri simply shuffle them into cars without even saying anything. 

She’s spent the past hour worriedly watching out the window, glancing in the passenger side mirror at Tamaki, and turning to trade worried looks with Sogo who sits behind her father on the other side. 

When they arrive she exits as fast as she can to keep her group from interfering with the police as they apprehend the criminal. Thankfully, none of them move close enough to interfere only standing on the edge of what’s going on, waiting for any news or sign. 

It doesn’t surprise her at all when Trigger pulls up not long after they arrive. At least it doesn’t feel like a long time in her mind compared to the hour she just spent in the silent car. What does surprise her is when Tenn walks over and it’s Tamaki who grabs his arm and stops him from getting any closer. She can’t make out the look they exchange but Tenn stops where he is, only pulling his wrist from Tamaki’s grasp after Gaku and Ryu come up behind him. Despite the air of dread that hangs over the group, she manages a small smile when Ryu waves at her. 

There’s nothing they can do but watch and wait. They don’t see the criminal come out of the house with all the police in front of them. It’s only when three police cars drive away does it dawn on her that the kidnapper is already being taken away. She doesn’t know if its good or bad she never saw their face. To see someone else who would look like anyone on the street probably but know they almost destroyed her whole world. It’s probably a good thing. 

She’s sure her heart is going to leap out of her chest with how fast its beating by the time the paramedics go in and come back out again. The first thing to appear is stretcher, her heart is in her throat when she sees the familiar mop of red hair on it, but the paramedics don’t rush to an ambulance, they’re slow to come so can only hope that means into not as bad as her worries lead her to believe. Behind the stretcher is fireman who’s carrying Iori. Next to them, Aya clings to Iori’s hand. Finally Momo appears in the doorway, leaning on another paramedic.   
There’s tears in her eyes. It’s not a sight she ever wanted to see, but they’re alive. All of them are alive. 

Iori has a black eye and a large bruise on his forehead. Aya’s arms are bruised something awful. Momo has a nasty gash on his forehead and his arm is in a makeshift sling. But they’re alive. They will all pull through and be okay. The weight of the past week and a half is lifted as her tears fall. She feels her knees shake but she doesn’t falter in a single step as they all rush to greet their missing family.


	11. Safe: Iori

They all spend a night in the hospital. Well Riku spends a whole week, but for just that first night they’re all there. The hospital staff has come in several times to tell the others they can’t all be in here at once but everytime someone appears, Banri or Takanashi-san interfere. It’s sometime in the middle of the night when he finds himself awake. Despite all that had transpired he can’t sleep. The day’s events have worn everyone else out it seems though as he looks at the groups haphazardly spread across the room. 

Aya is asleep next to him on the bed, curled up into his side. She has yet to let go of his hand since they were rescued. Not that he really wants her to, it’s a nice anchor to know he’s here in this moment and not stuck back in the basement. Behind Aya, there’s a small group on the couch. Tamaki, Sogo, Yamato, and Nagi are all bunched together. Tamaki had cried earlier and thanked him profusely when Aya had told him that he had protected her. That had been one of the strangest experiences in his life thus far. Then Aya had started telling them about the stories he had told her and the evening had been full of noise as she shared the stories he had told but now with everyone butting in with their version of the truth. Despite the events that had led up to that moment, it was warm and lively as it would’ve been had it happened on a normal day at dinner.

On his other side, his brother has a hold on his other hand. To be fair if Aya hasn’t let go of his hand neither has his brother. It can’t be comfortable the way he’s leaned over in a chair with his head on the bed, but his brother makes no sign of waking. His brother had latched onto him earlier and hadn’t let go since. Whether it had been holding his hand or an arm around his shoulders, Mitsuki has not let go since they’d been rescued. He’d been embarrassed by it, but it was comforting to have his brother always there. It was something he had taken for granted before.

Across from him, Tsumugi sleeps in what would’ve been Aya’s bed had she not also slept in his. She had felt bad about taking it, but everyone had told her to take it anyways. She finally stopped arguing about it when Takanashi-san had come in before leaving and told her either she was taking the bed or coming home for the night. That had gotten a laugh from everyone as she embarrassedly accepted the extra bed. On the smaller couch between the two beds across the room was Ryu and Gaku. Both of who were curled together in a way that totally betrayed Trigger’s image, but not as much so as the final member of their group. 

It had been strange, to finally see the big brother Tenn that Riku always talked about. Definitely even weirder than having Tamaki crying and thanking him. He didn’t think anyone would ever openly speak of it again, but now they had all witnessed Tenn crying and it was a strange thing he did not know what to do with. It would be like if he ever saw Yamato cry for real and not just on a screen. It would be impossible for anyone else to ever believe him if he told them what he had witnessed. But for now Tenn mirrored his own brother as he slept with his head on Riku’s bed. He couldn’t really see from where he was but he didn’t doubt that Tenn also held Riku’s hand as the two slept. Though as they both slept he could clearly pick out all the points on which they were related. Fraternal twins or not there was a resemblance when you put the two side by side. How had no one ever noticed was beyond him. 

Riku for the most part had spent the day asleep. Only waking up when the other members of Idolish7 had been arguing loudly about the true version of the prank war story. He had immediately been banned from talking upon waking up by Tenn, who had been the only one close enough to hear him when he did try to speak. Thankfully the doctors didn’t think there’d be any lingering issues with his breathing after a lot of rest. The small cuts on his face were already halfway to fully healed and the bruising on his throat would go away eventually too. 

The only one who was uncertain to fully recover was Momo. With the fractured wrist, then the concussion, and the partially infected gash on his forehead there were a lot of ways it could never be perfect again. There were four stitches in his forehead and he had spent the better part of an hour confusedly worrying if Yuki would still think he was pretty if he had an ugly scar on his forehead. It had been sickeningly sweet and he had been embarrassed for his senpai but Yuki had simply reassured Momo that he’d still be pretty.

Yuki sleeps like Tenn and his brother do. He thought it had been strange at first but he’s quickly finding that it was weird to think it was strange after seeing everyone else react to the situation. Momo is really only half asleep in his mind as a nurse comes in every hour to wake him up and make sure he’s okay as per the concussion. 

Everyone else sleeps soundly as far as he can tell. And sometime long after everyone else has been asleep for a while, he finally falls asleep too. Knowing that when he woke up again it’d be safe.


	12. Epilogue: Riku

The week he spends in the hospital is unlike any other week he’s spent in the hospital. Everyday someone came to visit him. The first day it had been Banri and Tsumugi who came to visit. They spent the day playing board games and card games. He or Tsumugi would win until they played Uno and Banri suddenly won five times in a row. When he asked how Banri was so good, he laughed so hard that he started coughing. Tsumugi knocked his water all over the cards and that was it for Uno. 

They had then spent the rest of visiting hours asking Banri for stories about Yuki. There were a lot that he was willing to share. It was comforting to know that even his senpai had struggled to make it through tough times. That and Banri had no problem throwing in his own two cents about the stories he told regardless of whether it was the nicest thing to say or not. When they left, the warm feeling in his chest stayed the rest of the night as did his smile for the most part. What Banri had said though would forever stick with him. With a completely straight face, Banri had flatout told them why he was so good at uno, “Yuki cheats so I had to be better than him to win regardless.” 

 

The next day it was Mezzo” who came to visit. Tamaki brought him two king puddings which was saying something considering they were both for him. They spent the day watching movies, filling in the background with their own commentary. At some point he fell asleep and when he awoke both Tamaki and Sogo were gone. There was note on his bedside table with a book under it.

_Riku,_

_I brought this book with so you could read in the evenings once visiting hours are over, or I when you wake up I suppose. Sorry for disturbing your rest and I hope you enjoy the book._

_Rikkun I wanted to bring mario kart with today but I wasn’t allowed to. Get better soon so we can play again, I want my rematch!_

There was doodles of king puddings all over the sides and bottom of the note. There were several that he could make out to be members of Idolish7, Trigger, and Re:vale. As well as Tsumugi, Banri, and Aya. They made him smile. 

 

The Pythagoras trio came to visit him next. They brought stories, food, and more games. Mitsuki’s cooking is so heavenly compared to the hospital food he’s been eating that he cries eating the cupcake they snuck him. It takes a solid thirty minutes to explain that he’s fine and the cupcake was just really good. Which is a harder task than he thought it would be with Nagi’s over the top scenarios, Mitsuki’s fretting, and Yamato trying to calm everything down. 

The stories are unexpected and mostly at Mitsuki’s expanse. About how he didn’t let Iori out of his sight for a whole two days after they came home from the hospital. How he wouldn’t let Iori do anything really on his own without constantly hovering over him. Mitsuki protested and said it was all within reason but Yamato pointed out that he had even cut Iori’s food up into smaller pieces before they all sat down for dinner yesterday. 

Mitsuki eventually derails the conversation by bringing up Kokana and Nagi spends the next few hours eagerly talking about the new season as they play card games. Yamato mentions offhandedly about playing Uno with Re:vale once and losing every game. It takes him longer than he it should’ve to stop laughing and share the fact Banri shared with him the other day. The rest of the visit is filled with laughs and Yamato’s comments about how he’s never going to forgive Yuki for cheating at Uno.

That night he really doesn’t eat the dinner he’s given, opting instead to eat the food Mitsuki had brought for him. It tastes like home. It’s a bittersweet thought as he’s not there now, but Sogo’s book and the day’s events are more than enough to distract him from the fact.

 

When Trigger walks through the door the next day its unexpected to say the least. They exchange tense pleasantries and awkward looks until his brother and Gaku leave suddenly. Ryu apologizes and tells him how Tenn reacted to learning he had been kidnapped. How they were told not to be involved in this anymore, but they had come anyway because it meant so much to Tenn to make sure he was okay. That it had taken them twenty minutes to get Tenn out of the car when they had gotten here. He’s cut off from his rambling when suddenly the door is thrust open and his brother stands there just staring him down. 

Behind him stands Gaku who pushes Tenn into the room, grabs Ryu and drags him into the hallway leaving just the twins in the room. On the other side of the door he can hear Ryu ask what's going on and Gaku merely laughs and talks a little louder so it's clearly audible when he says that the door is now effectively locked from the outside until Tenn actually talks about things. 

Then there’s just silence.

Tenn awkwardly stands in the middle between the door and the chair by his bed before eventually shuffling over to sit down. There’s a long pause before Tenn speaks, “Your friends are ridiculous.”

This confuses him. He looks past his brother to the door, he liked to think Gaku and Ryu were his friends but weren’t they more Tenn’s friends? His brother rolls his eyes at him, “Not them, your group, they are ridiculous.” 

This only confuses him even more. “What are you talking about?”

“They didn’t tell you?” 

“No? What happened?”

It’s then that Gaku and Ryu reveal they’ve been eavesdropping on their conversation from the other side of the door. Gaku takes full advantage of Tenn’s surprised state to tell him that after everyone else had left the hospital very early that first morning, Idolish7 had caused a massive scene. Thankfully the early morning had deterred anyone from really thinking about why there were six people yelling at someone outside a hospital but that was just minor details. 

What was important was the second they had walked outside, the rest of Idolish7 proceeded to tell Tenn that he needed to get his act together and make up his twin already. The Izumi brothers had apparently seen a new light on the situation given the one they had just been through and decided that they were done with Tenn still trying to distance himself. Then it had quickly turned from two vs. one, to six vs. one. 

Between Gaku trying to tell him everything, his brother trying to shut Gaku up, and Ryu trying to stop them from fighting in the hospital room, he didn’t really catch a lot of the situation. What he did manage to grasp was his group members had ganged up on his brother outside the hospital and yelled at him about how to actually act like his twin brother and not a stranger. It had been enough to get Tenn to cry apparently. 

“I’m going to give them a piece of my mind when I see them again.” His sudden comment stopped the bickering group in their tracks.

“Why?”

“Well I know it was done out of love and everything but they didn’t have to make you cry. And I don’t like admitting it, but we are basically strangers now. I know Tenn-nii who used to make me origami and build snowmen in the windowsill when I couldn’t play outside. I don’t really know Kujou Tenn who’s persona is cool and collected but bickers like an old married couple with his group members.”

“We do not bicker like an old married couple.” Both Gaku and Tenn say in sync like they weren’t only proving his point further.

Ryu laughs, “No he’s right you both do.” Both his group mates immediately start trying to defend themselves and only end up bickering more. It’s when he yawns not long after that Ryu cuts through their bickering and gets them to stop, “Alright, Riku-kun is probably tired so say what you’re gonna say and let him rest. Well have to visit again when everything is back to normal, get better soon Riku-kun.”

He gives Ryu a small smile for the older boy’s consideration. Gaku whispers something to Tenn which makes his brother glare at his group mate, but Gaku has stopped paying attention to his brother to stand and face him, “Rest well Nanase.”

Both older boys leave the room without further comment leaving the twins in uncomfortable silence. 

“Tenn-nii I,”

“Look Riku, I”

They both stutter from trying to talk over one another and he motions for Tenn to go first. His brother looks down at his feet for a second before looking up and meeting his eyes. “I, I was scared. They took Aya and there was nothing I could do. She’s smart and kind, and she has her whole future ahead of her. I accepted that there was nothing I could do. But then Nikado called and I knew. I knew they had taken you too before he even said it and I’ve never been more afraid in my life. I don’t have the right to call myself your twin anymore, but I would like to be your friend again.”

He’s pretty sure he’s crying when he dives head first across the bed right at Tenn who nearly falls out of his chair. Burying his face in his brother’s shirt he lets out all the emotions he’d locked away when Tenn left, “Are you stupid? You’ll always be my twin, you’ll always be Tenn-nii to me. Even if we can’t be the way we used to be, we can still be together. I just, I can’t lose you again.”

“You won’t, I promise,” gently, Tenn pushes him back so he can blow nose, “but Riku, why, why are you so ready to forgive me after I left you?”

It takes him a minute to think about this, but he knows his answer, he’s never held it against Tenn. He just wishes it hadn’t happened, but it had and now, now it was in the past. “Tenn-nii, are you happy?”

“What? Happy about what?”

“About where you are now, about being in Trigger?”

“I wouldn’t trade it for the world, my place is with Gaku and Ryu.”

“Well if you’re happy and I’m happy, then there’s no reason to dread the past anymore. After all, we still have the future.”

“You’ve been reading too many books again, what kind of cliche was that line?” 

“Hey! I thought it was good!” They laugh together, for the first time in years. He finally feels like the weight has been lifted from his shoulders. He may never understand why Tenn left, but he’s still here now and that’s good enough for him. 

 

The next visitors he gets is an unexpected duo. Maybe less unexpected once he recalls the situation that brought them together, but it’s not a bad thing. Aya is exactly as Tenn described her, but she has also resembles Tamaki very closely. She doesn’t speak much when they first come in together. Letting Iori fuss over him and just watching them interact. It’s only when he asks about Idolish7 making Tenn cry that she speaks up with her own input, “Are you mad at Tenn-oniichan too Nanase-san?”

Her sudden question takes him by surprise, but he smiles when he can answer honestly, “At Tenn-nii? I was before, but that’s in the past now. He’s still my twin no matter what and nothing will change that.”

She doesn’t look up to meet his eyes, instead looking down at her feet and whispering, “So then you’re not mad at me?” 

“Of course not Aya-chan. You had nothing to do with it, I’m glad you’re there to watch out for Tenn-nii.” He reaches out and pats her head. 

She looks up at him and smiles, “I’m glad you’re there to watch over Nii-chan too.”

‘Nah, that’s Iori and Sogo-san’s job.” Iori rolls his eyes at this which gets them both to laugh.

“Iori-nii also watches out for you too!”

“Yeah, even if most of it is just nagging.”

“Nanase-san I do not nag. I merely state facts and the truth.”

“So when you said Nanase-san was cute was that a fact?” 

Iori sputters, his face bright red as he fights to come up with a reason. 

“That was a good one Aya-chan!”

“Just Aya is fine, we do share a brother.”

“Then call me Riku, after all we’re basically siblings now too!” 

“Do you have any embarrassing stories about Iori-nii Riku? He wouldn’t let me ask Mitsuki-san.”

“Oh I have plenty.”

“I regret introducing you two. This clearly was a mistake.”

“No way, you love us Iori!”

He and Aya spend the rest of their visit discussing everything they possibly can. Much to Iori’s chagrin, part of it is how cool Tenn is and part of it embarrassing stories about Iori. He even gets Aya to agree its not fair Iori will call everyone else in Idolish7 by their given name but not him. Eventually Iori cuts the visit short when he starts coughing. The two give their well wishes as they leave and Aya gives him a hug. 

When she does, she leans just a bit further to whisper in his ear, “Iori-nii called you Riku when he recognized you in the basement.”

That just makes him like her all that much more.

 

“Riku~”

“Momo-san!”

It’s Re:vale who visits him next. Momo still has his arm in a cast, but his stitches are out only leaving a small pink scar behind. There’s different colors of sharpie all over his pink cast which he can clearly see a few of his group members signatures as well as Trigger’s. Momo notices his look and pulls out a box of colored sharpies for him to sign it with. He picks a bright red that shows up darker on the pink cast but Momo smiles when he finally manages to collect all his kouhai’s signatures. 

Yuki tells him about how Momo tried to shower with his clothes on more than once upon arriving home from the hospital because how else was he supposed to clean both himself and his clothes? Then he also had tried to leave the house on multiple occasions without either shoes, pants, or a combination of the two. Apparently the painkillers combined with the concussion and then little sleep made you loopy. 

When Momo mentions it’s not the stupidest thing he’s ever done, Yuki comments on how facing down the kidnapper was the stupidest thing and he still can’t believe Momo did that. They start bickering about it but he’s stopped listening. It was his fault Momo had done that. 

Its Momo who snaps him out of it when he tells him that he knows that face and its not his fault. Yuki laughs at this and reassures him that Momo is only in trouble with him because he was extra reckless. They could’ve tracked the second phone just fine without the call, Momo hadn’t needed to act so recklessly. 

It’s nice to be reassured it isn’t his fault but he still feels guilty. Momo tells him that if he still feels guilty he’ll have to repay him. When he asks how Momo just winks and tells him its a secret. Momo’s phone rings and he steps out of the room to take the call, apologizing as he does. 

Yuki takes the time to tell him about the exaggerated lies Momo has come up with breaking his arm and having healing wound on his forehead. That in every version of the story Momo always calls himself a cool hero and that they should see the other guy. That Momo doesn’t regret doing what he did for a instant so he should stop blaming himself.

In the end Re:vale still has work as one of the top idol groups and they have to leave. Yuki tells him to get better soon and Momo messes up his hair before telling him that he needs not fear, his hero is here. It’s silly, but it makes him laugh. 

 

On his last day in the hospital, all of Idolish7 comes to bring him back home. Tsumugi signs him out while the rest of his group members make sure he’s feeling better for real. Everyone’s laughing and smiling again just like they should be. Despite the horribleness that they had just been through, they had only grown closer as a result. 

He had only been away a week but seeing everyone all together made him realize how much he had missed this. Tamaki excitingly talking with Nagi and Mitsuki over what was going to be for dinner tonight now that he was coming back home. Iori trying to make sure they weren’t causing a scene while Yamato and Sogo watched the scene unfold with smiles on their faces. He missed this. He really missed this a lot. 

“Eh? Riku? What’s wrong?” Mitsuki drops out of the current conversation and walks over to him. He’s confused at what Mitsuki could be talking about when he feels something on his face. Reaching up to wipe it away, he realizes he’s crying.

“I’m just really happy to go back home.” He scrubs at his eyes and tries to make the tears go away. This is silly. He shouldn’t be crying over something this little. It wasn’t that big of a deal. 

Someone throws an arm around his shoulder and he looks up to meet Yamato’s eyes. His leader grins and ruffles his hair, “Ah, getting all mushy on us Riku? You’re gonna make Oniisan cry too.” 

Tsumugi comes back over and tells them that they’re good to go. She gives him a large smile and a thumbs up before leading them out the door. Both Nagi and Mitsuki give him hugs as they file after her. Tamaki and Yamato pat his head. Sogo gives his shoulder a squeeze. Then it’s just him and Iori. 

He waits to see what Iori will do. Iori simply shakes his head and starts out the door. He frowns a little, but Iori turns around and gives him a small smile, “Come on Riku, let’s go home.”

“Yeah!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope yall liked this, it was fun to write, especially this last chapter! still sad we have to wait til may for the anime finale tho, i need me that pretty animation memo mel

**Author's Note:**

> This will update daily so enjoy :)


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